Academia Sinica launches climate research center

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

A new research center was launched yesterday at Academia Sinica to strengthen the nation’s ability to deal with climate change.

Funded by the National Science Council, the Consortium for Climate Change Study’s Laboratory for Climate Change Research (LCCR) is to focus on climate change simulations and the evaluation of future risks.

Academia Sinica Research Center for Environmental Changes director Hsu Huang-hsiung (許晃雄), the convener of the consortium and director of the laboratory, said rapid changes in the global environment and global warming had made climate change a primary field of research and development in many countries.

Referring to global research trends, climate change research has become institutionalized because it requires long-term strategic development, long-term personnel investment and substantial resources, Hsu said.

However, climate simulations and forecasts are still considered insufficient in Taiwan, with much of the primary data introduced from other countries and modified to a local scale, he said, adding that complicated geography and highly variable seasonal winds in Taiwan also cause more high-impact natural disasters.

Hsu said the consortium and associate researchers from several universities and research centers would work on developing simulators and generating outstanding international research.

The establishment of the laboratory would also provide opportunities for young academics in the field to develop their special skills and to elevate climate simulations, he said.

Liao Wen-feng (廖文蜂), director of the council’s Department of Natural Sciences, said the LCCR was the fourth facility to be established as part of a pilot project in the past three years, following a volcano observatory at Datunshan (大屯山) in Taipei, an advanced organic photovoltaic laboratory at National Central University and a consortium looking at emergent crystalline materials.

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